


Hyperactive

by arfrid



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: ADHD Awareness, During Season 3, F/M, Gen, Good Significant Other Lucas Sinclair, Max stims, Maxine "Max" Mayfield has ADHD, Minor Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, POV Multiple, Post-Season/Series 02, Self-Harm, Stimming, Subconscious Self-Harm, and El's POV is in Season 3, but please assume that in every single fic i write, i guess?, im implying that Will is autistic ok, implied/referenced autism, note: max is bi, okay? okay, she's bisexual, she's not explicitly bi in this fic, she's on the more hyperactive side of the spectrum, the first part is Post Season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28629864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arfrid/pseuds/arfrid
Summary: They start to see it with little things.Leg bouncing, shirt chewing, etc. But it's only when Max accidentally hurts herself that they take things into their own hands.ORThe Party is concerned for Max's health (what else is new) ft. a hint of Lumax
Relationships: Dustin Henderson & Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Eleven | Jane Hopper & Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Maxine "Max" Mayfield & Mike Wheeler, Maxine "Max" Mayfield & The Party, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, The Party - Relationship, Will Byers & Mike Wheeler
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	1. Mike

**Author's Note:**

> WELCOME TO THE ADHD FIC YOU NEVER KNEW YOU NEEDED!!
> 
> max is adhd you can't change my mind

“Hey!” Max yelled to the party. “You losers coming or not?”

Mike grinned at the callback of the first night they had actually hung out. Lucas and Dustin locked eyes and re-enacted the scene, both of them squealing excitedly. Mike joined in, rolling his eyes, but playfully this time.

Max rolled her eyes. “You know I just like calling you guys losers.”

Lucas waved her off. “We know, we know, it just makes us happy each time we re-enact that scene.”

“Why?” Max asked skeptically, but Mike heard the hidden curiousness underneath it.

Mike shrugged. “It’s the first time we hung out, I guess.”

Max sent him a playful glare. “The first time me, Dustin and Lucas hung out, unlike Mr. Mopey because his girlfriend got stuck inside her house.”  
  


Mike blushed red while the others laughed at his expression. As  he did so, he noticed how Max bounced her leg while they talked.

It seemed like an almost impatient gesture, though Max didn’t seem impatient at that moment. In fact, she looked content staying and talking there.

“Hey – Hey Max?” Will reaches out hesitantly. He hadn’t actually known Max that well because, well, a mind flayer fucks up your abilities to make new friends, but he was trying.

Max immediately turned and gave Will a smile, and Will visibly relaxed.

“Yeah, Will?” She asked. Gone was the animosity she’d shown before she, Dustin and Lucas became friends.

Will smiled back at her. “Yeah, yeah! Of course, I just wanted to know – why are you bouncing your leg?”

Max looked down, and her eyes widened ever so slightly, as if she hadn’t known she was doing it.

_ As if, _ Mike thought.

Max shrugged. “It’s just a subconscious thing, I guess. I just sometimes feel like I’m on a physical motor sometimes, and my body just–” She gestures down at her leg, which still hasn’t stopped bouncing. “– yeah. Don’t really know why  I do it. Just do.”

Her tone was challenging, as if daring somebody to contradict her. Mike was tempted to, just for something to do, but what good it do, honestly?

Besides, all of them had different ways of coping. Maybe this was just one of them.

  
There was a silence.

“Well, we just gonna wait out here in the freezing cold-” Most of them were just wearing thin hoodies and T-Shirts underneath, while Max had several hoodies on. “-and wait till frostbite catches up _or_ we gonna go play in the Arcade.”

“Arcade.” All of them agreed grimly.

As they played, Mike couldn’t help but watch how quickly her hands moved, as if they were operating independantly rather than being connected to Max.

After she was done and it was Lucas’ turn, Mike asked her quietly, “How do you do that? With your hands?”

Max gave him a sly look. “I move them.”

Mike rolled his eyes. “Ha-ha, very funny. Seriously though.” His voice dropped down to a whisper, “If you tell me your secret I could finally beat Dustin.”

“Sure.” She scoffed. Then her expression softened a fraction. “Seriously, though? I have no idea. It’s like my brain is seperate from my hands, but at the same time, connected so much that it knows what to do less than a second of me thinking it.”

Mike considered her words. “ That’s pretty cool.”

“It’s really not.”

Mike frowned; he couldn’t see how a superhuman ability like this could  _ not  _ be cool. Before he could do or say anything, however, it was Max’s turn on Dig Dug.

Huh.


	2. Will

Will _loved_ having sleepovers. He loved them even more after the Upside-Down, the ability to reach for someone who was _right_ there instead of sleeping alone – gah, he was getting sappy.

One of his favorite people to have a sleepover with was Max.

Surprising, he knew. Especially since he barely knew her, but that made it easier. She never treated him like glass, and joked around.

She fangirled immensely when he had the new comics. It was a thing between them that they’d read together, most of the time Max reading to Will, occasionally Will reading to Max.

Max knew he was gay, so she usually leaned into him and both of them would know it was strictly platonic.

  
This time was his sleepover with Max, and everything was perfect. The lights were dim - not dark enough so that you can't read, not bright enough that it blinds you - and she was leaning into him, listening to him read a Green Lantern comic.  
  


Midway through Green Lantern fighting his way out of a trap, he glanced at Max and noticed something peculiar.

She was chewing the hem of her pyjamas.

Max looked up confusedly once he’d stopped reading, then seemed to realize what she was doing.

“Oh- Sorry-” She said quickly, removing the item of clothing from her grasp. “It’s just- sorry if that grosses you out-”  
  


Will shrugged. “We all cope somehow. It’s fine if this is how you cope with stress.”

She still looked troubled and unconvinced.

“I’ve always done it. Even before all,” She gestured at Will’s room. “This.”

Will shrugged again. He didn’t really care. He told her that, and she smiled. As he continued reading, he noticed how again how Max chewed it. He mentally shrugged it off.


	3. Lucas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for scratching/self-harm!

Lucas was the first one who noticed when it became more serious.

Him and Max were hanging out at his place, Max laughing along with him. It was the start of the summer, and Max was still complaining about the cold, and how  _This is like, not even warm. You think this is warm? Come to California, dork._ She was starting to wear short sleeves, though.

This was one such short-sleeve occasion. They were both chilling, talking about anything and everything. Max was sitting opposite him, talking animatedly with him and flapping her hands. It was strange, but Lucas had accepted it was a ‘Max thing’.

She kept on talking about the seashells that she would pick up on the beach when Lucas saw it.

Her hands had lowered and were now scratching at her wrists.

Lucas shrugged off the worry.

_ Maybe she’s just itchy. _

It was when the skin started turning redder than normal, when Max just _wouldn’t stop_ that he started getting seriously worried

Max didn’t seem to notice, somehow now talking about seagulls. She was still scratching.

“Max-” Max stopped with a start, staring at him confusedly. 

Except he said it a little too late.

Blood was now running down Max’s forearm, a blotch of red appearing suddenly.

They both stared at it in horror before Max jumped up, clutching her bleeding arm and running to the kitchen. He quickly followed her, his anxiousness visibly showing.

Max had put her arm under the tap, wincing when the water hit the blotch of red.

They both sighed collectively when the blood stopped running. Max stared at the small scar she had made.

“Why were you-” Lucas made a sound in his throat. Max whipped round to face him. “Why were you scratching so much?”

“I didn’t notice.” Her voice was low, almost a whisper. “Honest-to-god, I didn’t notice.”  


What’s worse is that he believed her.

And that meant that this was a subconscious thing, a habit that would be hard to break.


	4. Dustin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! here it's called ADD because that's what it was called BEFORE it was called ADHD in the 80s. i tried my best to find info of these things!
> 
> also if you dont know what a tangler is, its a fidget toy. here's a picture: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/681612727436705853/797089079807574076/104M_JrClassic_PinkClearBlue_2048x.webp

“O _kay.”_ Dustin plopped a book down. “I’ve looked in the library, through anything related to subconscious self-harm, and I found one that connects to Max’s.. deal. Case. Whatever.”

Dustin saw El’s scowl at the mention of Max. They were in the Hopper Cabin, and all the boys had come over this time. Everyone but El was concerned, and Lucas was very anxious to find the cause of Max’s problems.

He opened up the book and went to a page. “It’s called ADD. It’s a thing in the brain that makes it so that she has so much energy and so many thoughts that she can’t really just stand without showing her excess energy.”

El frowned, clearly not understanding. She wasn’t the only one. Lucas looked a little confused too.

Dustin thought of some kind of metaphor that’d help them understand. “Okay, so imagine you have so much energy inside you. When you’re standing up or sitting down, you’re not really using as much energy as you would while walking, right?”

“Right.” El and Lucas said at the same time.

“That’s what Max is dealing with.” Dustin finished, feeling a little triumphant.

“But _why?”_ Mike asked. “Why does she have more energy than us?”

Dustin looked down at the book. “It’s a gene thing, apparently.”

“Yeah.” Will interjected. “It does. Runs in families.”

As everyone stared at him (El subtly clapping her hands), he turned red and muttered something about ‘homework exercise’.

Dustin shook his head. “Whatever, whatever. We just gotta figure out a way to make it so that the stims – which means self-stimulation, by the way – aren’t harmful towards Max.”

“Any ideas?”

Will raised his hand. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a Rubik’s cube. “This _should_ help. Since the sounds it makes when you turn it is satisfying, and Max can try and figure it out so she can stim.”

Dustin blinked. “That’s actually a really good idea, where’d you get that from?”

Will shrugged and passed the Rubik’s cube over to Dustin. “Gift from my mom.”

“But yeah, that’s a good idea.” Dustin pocketed the cube. “Anything else?”

The rest all shrug.

“Something we _can_ do is make sure we stop her when it hurts her.” Mike turned to El. “You too, El. I know you don’t like her, but please. For her sake and ours.”

El’s expression softened. She nodded.

“Wait!” Will said. He reached in his other pocket. “This.”

It was a tangle bracelet thing. Will showed them how it moved.

Dustin gaped. “That’d be great, Will!”

Will blushed under the attention.


	5. El

El sat next to Max in the bed, she noticed how, while she was talking, Max started scratching at her skin.

Remembering the Max Talk from the year before, she put her hands on Max’s ones. Max looked down and blushed, taking her hands away, muttering a “sorry.”  


El smiled at her. “It’s okay.”  


El checked in her pockets for a gift she’d bought Max in the mall, and handed it to Max. Max’s eyes widened as she saw the tangled bracelet.

She looked back up at El’s eyes, and El saw Max try a soft smile. “Thanks, El.”  


Now, as Max talked, El tuned her out  and watched her hands as she fidgeted with the Tangle.


End file.
